This and That

Another week has flown away. We’ve had our first couple dustings of that dreaded “s” word.

All the tomatoes were picked before those flurries happened. The back bedroom exudes the scent of green and ripening tomatoes when the door is opened. Several batches of them have been roasted, usually along with onions, garlic, and fresh herbs (the final pickings of basil, parsley, and marjoram needed to be used).

Mostly I’ve puréed them into sauce, although I did can one batch as whole tomatoes. The pantry is filling with those lovely jars of red deliciousness.

The final beet picking was also roasted, along with roughly equal amounts of carrots. Both are naturally sweet so no added sugar was needed, although one recipe I consulted called for some honey.

I pared the beets (I read you can eat the beet skins, I opted not to) but just scrubbed the carrots, cutting both into roughly equal-sized chunks.

Drizzle with EVOO, sprinkle with sea salt, and fresh herbs of your choice. I roasted at 400 until they were tender (20-30 minutes), then puréed them.

I even mixed some in with the roasted tomato sauce that didn’t fit into the jars from the previous batch. It was so good.

I’d thought I had my remaining Swiss chard protected from the maurading deer. Chard will take a lot of cold and frost before throwing in the towel.

I’d surrounded it with the tomato cages, but since the fence is down and the deer are really hungry (there’s no green in the surrounding fields) those cages didn’t stop them for long.

So, I’m down to using the chard that is already in my fridge. I did make the following salad before the chard disappeared, and added chopped beet greens. Again, the dressing used here is great for other salads.

Apple/Walnut Rainbow Swiss Chard Salad

• 4 C shredded chard

• 2 medium apples, cored & chopped

• 1 large stalk celery, sliced thin

• 1/2 small onion, sliced thin

• 1/2 C toasted walnuts, chopped

Dressing:

• 1/2 Tbl honey OR maple syrup

• 2 Tbl cider vinegar

• 3 Tbl EVOO

• 1/4 tsp kosher salt

• 1/8 tsp pepper

Whisk dressing ingredients together. Toss chard, apples, celery, and onion, then drizzle with dressing. Toss again, then sprinkle with nuts.

Last week I went to make chocolate chip cookies for Dennis (I’m currently avoiding wheat flour and sugar) but messed up by adding 2 cups white sugar to the butter when it should have been 1 cup each white and brown.

Luckily, I found this recipe that calls for the same amount of butter with 2 cups white sugar. And this recipe is great for Halloween! (I did get his cookies made, too, and they’re already gone.)

Black Cat Cookies

• 1 C butter

• 2 C sugar

• 2 eggs

• 3 tsp vanilla

• 3 C flour

• 1 C baking cocoa

• 1/2 tsp baking powder

• 1/2 tsp baking soda

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 24 popsicle sticks

• 48 candy corn pieces

• 24 red hots

Oven at 350. Cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients. Gradually add mixed dry ingredients to the butter/egg mix. Form into 1 1/2”-2” balls. Place 3” apart on lightly greased sheets.

Insert popsicle stick into each ball. Flatten slightly with smooth-bottomed glass dipped in sugar. Leave fairly thick. Pinch top of cookie to form cat ears. Press tines of a fork on each side to form whiskers.

Bake 10-12 minutes or until set. Remove from oven. Immediately press on candy corn for eyes( narrow ends in the center), and a red hot for the nose. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

I’m not going to use popsicle sticks ever again. The cookies will store better without the sticks. Besides, I used up my supply and refuse to purchase more. I couldn’t find red hots, so used red-mini-M&Ms as well as cherry chips.

Ok, last recipe for this week. If you garden like I do, you will have lots of green tomatoes. This green tomato salsa was great on my taco salad a couple days ago.

I plan to make another batch and use it with some crisply fried corn tortillas broken into homemade chips.

I’m a bit of a weenie, so I only used half the hot pepper.

Green Tomato Salsa

• 8 oz green tomatoes (5 small), quartered

• 1/2 - 1 full jalapeño, seeded and ribs removed

• 3 cloves garlic, peeled

• 1 medium white onion, quartered

• 1/2 C fresh cilantro leaves (optional)

• 2 Tbl lime juice

Put the tomatoes, jalapeño, garlic, and onion on a baking sheet. Broil on high (not close to the broiler) 4-5 minutes. Flip items over and broil an additional 4-5 minutes. There may be some charring.

Process in a blender using half the jalapeño and adding the cilantro and juice. Taste, and add the rest of the jalapeño if you want it hotter. Store in the fridge.

It’s been kind of nice having the oven on to roast things during this cold spell.